You probably believe it’s hard to buy a foreclosed property, but it’s not. An overpriced property will generally get little interest and may sit on the market for a year or more. Some agents may have worked deals on foreclosed home with the bank on previous deals and could have insight into what will be coming on the market, not just what is already there.

It disposes of these properties through a traditional real estate agent, an on-line auction or by conveying (transferring) the property to the original investor (who would then employ their own method of disposition). For example, a good property in an up-and-coming neighborhood will be purchased quickly – usually by a real estate investor or an eager person looking for a new house.

Other sellers can either lower their asking prices to compete more effectively with the foreclosures, or wait out the wave of local foreclosures in the hopes of nabbing a sales price closer to their actual list price. On the negative side, they usually want you to offer ‘wholesale pricing’ and don’t pay until 30 – 60 days after you invoice them for the work.

Real estate foreclosures usually take several months from the first missed payment until the home is sold on the courthouse steps. What you can do is find a good and experience real estate broker or agent who knows the ins and outs of home foreclosures. The bank’s main objective is to re-sell these houses to new buyers by financing a mortgage.

It all starts when the homeowner — the borrower — fails to make timely mortgage payments. Most residents of foreclosed homes are none too happy about their eviction, and many physically take out their discontent on the house itself. I suspected my offer was never shown to the bank selling the house.